Cold
by Razell
Summary: My OCs Torren-Wraeth and Tek meet The Thing and play Mary-Sue. In progress and in need of a better title. Rated for cursing, drinking, drug references, suicide references and violence.
1. Chapter 1

Cold

Chapter 1

Winter, 1982

U.S. Antarctic Research Base 31

The being had little hope of survival in its current form. It recognized what the human creatures were doing, and it was concerned. Concerned, and angry. They had destroyed its make-shift craft and were now actively hunting it. They had planted explosives throughout the base, intending to destroy them all in the blast. It had learned of this suicidal plan when it absorbed the one called Garry.

That, at least, was something. One less enemy to worry about.

There were only two left now. Two humans, and two appendages of itself of any appreciable size and power. At the moment the greater form was pursuing the weaker human, Nauls. He posed no real threat to it, The Whole was far more concerned with the one called MaCready, but he was above, on the surface level of the base, while it was within the underbelly, with Nauls.

What was that human saying? _Beggars can't be choosers_.

The man was fast, but he was only human and the base was a labyrinth of dead-ends and heavy machinery. It was only a matter of time before he was cornered and consumed.

It was over. He'd known it since the power had failed. Since they'd found Blair gone and the ship the Thing had created. He wasn't a soldier like MacReady, he was a cook for God's sake. He'd never even been in a street brawl, much less a battle. A _war_. A war against an alien that could look just like your best friend or your worst acid-trip nightmare.

It was just like _Alien._ MacReady was Ripley.

And Nauls was Lambert.

Nauls cursed as he turned the corner to find a dead-end.

End of the line.

Tears formed in his eyes as he turned and looked upon the horror pursuing him. He wanted to vomit at the sight, but didn't have the strength. One half of it's head was old Blair's distorted face, grotesquely melded with a drooling, dog-like muzzle filled with with sharp teeth. It's body was bloated and twisted, with random limbs and waving tentacles lashing toward him, seeking to add him to that tortured mass of all-consuming flesh.

God, he didn't want to die like _that_.

Nauls instinctively pressed himself against the wall.

He still had a gun.

It couldn't kill the Thing, but he wasn't planning on using it on the monster. He would escape by the only means he had left. He shakily raised the gun to his chin, closed his eyes, and . . .

_Fell_.

The wall vanished as his finger reached the trigger, a small, strong hand pushed the gun down, the bullet tore into the creature's bloody hide. The gun flew from his hand, rattled onto the rapidly rising floor as Nauls felt himself pulled bodily from . . . _Everything_.

A door seemed to slam shut. Everything was gone. The monster. The base. Even the cold.

He caught a glimpse of a green, child-like face with glowing amber eyes. He fell backwards into an emerald light, and those small hands caught him. Within seconds he went from mortal terror to peaceful slumber.

Torren-Wraeth picked the man up and held him gently in his arms. He watched as the mutilated form of the parasitoid before the Portal vanished. He was unfazed, he had seen, and had dealings with, far more hideous creatures. He was, after all, a son of Great Cthulhu himself.

It paused. Something, somehow had opened a dimensional portal and pulled Nauls through. A twinge of fear rippled through The Whole. Some power was at work here that it had not foreseen.

What was that green child?

"What a mess this is. Now, why would you just kill nineteen people like that?"

The creature turned to see a beautiful, golden-skinned youth standing behind him. His face showed neither fear nor disgust, only a passive indifference. It replied telepathically:

_We do not seek conflict. The bio-mass was needed to help restore what was lost in the crash. This barren place lacks any other form consumable matter outside of humans and dogs. We had no choice. After the first spawn were created the humans began to destroy us. We had to defend ourselves. _

"Yeah, they tend to do that. Humans are a remarkably violent lot."

_What are you? You are not human._

"I am a stranger, like you." Tektaktequataquarl made a show of examining his fingernails, "And, for the record, I'm inedible. I can help you get home. You saw the portal my friend created, I can easily make one to your home, wherever that is."

_This world has inflicted great suffering upon The Whole. And we must feed. We must survive._

"You can't 'survive' on earth. This world is protected." Tek's tone grew darker, ominous, "Did I mention that I am one of the Spawn of Hastur?"

The creature's rage was immediately replaced by a mind-numbing fear. _Hastur_. The Whole knew of The Tattered King. The Whole knew of the beings that dwelt beyond the mortal realm, and had no desire to confront them.

It let out a terrified roar and fled, upwards, straight through the ceiling of the base.

And right into MacReady.

Tek heard primal screams and thunderous explosions from above as the two frightened beings fought desperately to survive.

Was that idiot actually using _dynamite_ against a creature that could reproduce by _division_? Tek shook his head, if that was the best humanity could do, they were royally screwed.

Part of the creature, a bloated, worm-like appendage with whipping tentacles remained trapped in the hole the being had made in its attempted escape. It shuddered, thrashed and writhed as the battle progressed. Tek was about to follow it to the surface when the world around him erupted in flame, debris and deafening sound.

U.S. Antarctic Research Base 31 had exploded.

Yoshida Technologies Antarctic exploratory vessel _Fujin-Maru_,

Torren-Wraeth stood beside a bed in the sick bay of the vessel, contemplating the problem of what to do with the human he had rescued. He was very fortunate that Goro's company had a ship so close (relatively speaking) to the two afflicted bases. He could make up a plausible rescue scenario for the man to tell the authorities.

He wished they'd learned about this situation earlier. They might have been able to send the being home with no loss of life. Instead, it was a bloodbath.

Torren-Wraeth gently probed the unconscious man's mind, watching as horror after horror made itself lethally known. The man was stronger mentally than he himself believed, but this would be too much for him in the long run. Torren-Wraeth erased his memories of the past day, replacing them with a terrible accident, a fire and explosion that had claimed the lives of the rest of the base personnel. He was very careful to get the details down precisely, right down to the actual helicopter crew of the _Fujin-Maru_ who had 'rescued' him. He didn't want to risk any further mental trauma.

"What about the other human?" He asked without turning to face his friend.

"Right now he and the being are sharing a drink."

Torren-Wraeth laughed mirthlessly, "_Now_ they stop killing each other." He turned, "Extraction?"

"The entity is too dangerous to allow it to interact with other lifeforms." Tek shrugged, "And the human's slightly psychotic."

"Why didn't you just knock him out and bring him here?"

"They seemed to be having a good time. That, and I got hit in the head by a fifty pound piece of slag and buried beneath a ton of hot metal, dirt and boiling water."

Torren-Wraeth frowned. Hastur-Spawn might be nigh-indestructible, but they could still feel pain. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. But we _have_ to make sure this thing is contained and sent back where it came from."

"That might be difficult, the idiot used dynamite to blow the larger creature to pieces. And there are doubtless still pieces left at the other camp. _And_," He frowned, "Then, there's the military."

"Which one?"

"Does it matter? It's too late, anyway. One of the humans from Thule station survived and reached the Russian base. They probably think she's crazy, but once they get a team there . . ."

"The Norwegians already sent a helicopter in. I saw it in Nauls' mind. The pilot was killed in an explosion and the passenger was shot by the Americans when he accidentally shot one of them. He was trying to shoot the creature. As if bullets could stop it . . . He," Torren-Wraeth indicated the slim, dark-skinned young man on the sick bay bed, "Thought they'd gone to war with Norway."

"That's a distinct possibility, if both countries start thinking their crews attacked each other . . . And if the Russians have heard what happened at the Norwegian base, the Americans will hear about it soon enough. They might not believe it, but they'll hear about it. And with two research stations destroyed and twenty three people dead, there are going to be a hell of a lot of questions."

"Depending on what they find, they'll almost certainly believe it. The humans don't know what they're dealing with, they'll have left remains lying around. Remains that aren't quite dead yet." Torren-Wraeth paused for a moment, "I don't even know what that thing was, other than it was some sort of transgenic mimetic . . . _Thing_. A thing that has to be completely and utterly destroyed to die."

"It's just a lost, hungry traveler stranded on a hostile planet, trying desperately to survive the only way it knows how. The only way it can. It may not even have realized that humans were sentient until it had already absorbed one, by which time they were trying to kill it." Tek rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was tired. He looked at Torren-Wraeth, "I say we _Call_ Ithaqua, have him place a glacier over the whole area so the humans can't reach the pieces, and come back for them later. The storm will keep the investigators at bay for as long as Ithaqua wants." He shook his golden head, "What did you tell the crew?"

The captain and crew knew about the existence of alien lifeforms, most workers at Yoshida Technologies had to know. Their founder and CEO's closest friend was a hybrid of human and Star Spawn who actively worked with them reverse-engineering alien tech. Still, there were many things they didn't, and shouldn't, know about. A shape-shifting parasitoid who could perfectly replicate its victims and literally become the entire faunal ecosystem of earth was one of them.

"Tragic accident. The base caught fire and blew up."

"That won't be good enough for the military. Especially since _two_ bases were destroyed."

"Sabotage? Terrorism?"

"In _Antarctica_?" He scoffed, "I don't think the PLO or the IRA can take the fall for this one. The Americans and Norwegians will probably blame the Russians, and we'll have World War III."

"Then, like you said, we bury it. The respective governments will probably cover it up for us, when they hear that woman's story. They're good at that sort of thing." He stroked his tendriled chin anxiously "Of course, Nauls remembers it as a tragic accident, not a battle with an alien lifeform. I was worried about his peace of mind, not his credibility. Of course, he remembers being outside when the 'accident' happened. He doesn't remember the alien."

Tek's eyes widened, "The other human! I forgot about him! I'll go get him now and bring him here. You _Call_ Ithaqua." With that, Tek vanished.

Dr. Fujita, ship's physician, entered the room, "I ran the blood check. He's human." Torren-Wraeth already knew that, of course, but it was always good to get a second opinion. "Captain Kubo radioed the Americans to let them know about the accident and that we have a survivor."

Torren-Wraeth winced despite himself. They had to let the Americans know their base was gone and most of their staff dead, and have them pick up the survivors. He just hoped nobody reached the site before, or _during_, Ithaqua's arrival.

"We may have another shortly. There's still a man out there, Tek's gone to pick him up."

The doctor looked at him in surprise, clearly wondering why they'd left a survivor of a catastrophic explosion in the middle of a massive Antarctic storm.

"Tek was hit by a secondary explosion and couldn't get him right away. As he wasn't in immediate danger, he came here for a moment to recover before going back. I'm about to go myself and help put out the fire."

"Let it burn, if there's no one else left . . ."

"Thanks, but this fire has to be put out. Hazardous materials."

Torren-Wraeth sighed. He couldn't _Call_ Ithaqua aboard the _Fujin-Maru_. The ship would be destroyed by the cold the Great Old One brought with him. He would find a good half-way point between Thule Station and U.S. 31 and _Call_ The Wind Walker to bury the evidence so deep the humans wouldn't even know there had ever been anything there.

He didn't know how they'd react to a gigantic glacier suddenly engulfing two research stations, but at the moment, he didn't particularly care.

He picked up Nauls' cold weather gear, which had been set aside, and began to dress in the man's thick clothing. It wasn't much, but Torren-Wraeth hated the cold.

U.S. Antarctic Research Station 31, or what was left of it.

"Ya' know, Childs. I think I've drunk too much, or not enough." MacReady looked at the golden, winged figure approaching through the blizzard and black smoke, "I'm seein' f***'n angels."

"You shouldn't say F*** around angels, probably." It replied, "But I'm seein' it too." It had to resist the urge to attack the Hastur-Spawn, between MacReady's flamethrower and the golden boy's power, it wouldn't have a chance.

"He's right, you shouldn't curse around angels." Tek smiled, "But I'm no angel."

MacReady pulled out his flamethrower and aimed it at the beautiful golden figure, then shrugged and set it down, "You wanna F***'n drink?"

"No thank you. I came to rescue you."

They both got a big laugh out of that one.

"So, yer' _Luke F***'n Skywalker_ . . ."

"My friend's about to call a god of ice and snow to bury this whole mess under a glacier. He already took Nauls to a ship . . ."

"Fine, they can drink too." He took a swig, then paused to consider, "Nauls made it?"

"Yes." Tek wondered if he should tell him that the man sitting next to him hadn't 'made it', but decided against it. "He's fine."

"Garry?"

Tek frowned, regret glimmered in his golden eyes, "I'm sorry. If we had only been two minutes earlier . . ."

"An' what about us?"

"Does it really matter?"

MacReady laughed, "Well, s***! I guess not."

"What's this 'bout an ice god?" 'Childs' asked.

"Yeah. Ithaqua, The Wind Walker. He's gonna plow this whole scrapheap under a giant glacier."

"Ya' know, the way I see it, you're a pink elephant. I'm drunk off my a** and freezin' to death and talkin' to an angel about ice gods. . ." MacReady actually made a pretty good argument, it did seem a bit unlikely.

"You'll sleep it off." Tek said softly, and R.J. MacReady fell fast asleep. "As for you," He turned to 'Childs', "My offer still stands. I'd rather send you home than kill you, but I _will_ kill you to keep you from taking over this planet."

'Childs' stood up, sighed, shook his head. His drunken facade fell away. "Then I have no choice." It laughed, "It's a shame, they make some d*** fine liquor here. But I know when I'm beat. I panicked before, when I found what you were. It was a stupid mistake. I've made a lot of those lately." There was a hint of self-reproach in its voice. "What about all the smaller forms . . . "

"Why do you think we're freezing this place solid? We'll recover them and send them back, but we have to hide them for now until the humans give up and we can search properly. We can't have you, _any_ part of you, falling into the wrong hands."

"Military hands?"

"It's a miracle humanity hasn't destroyed itself with what they have already. Add your . . . _Talents_ to the mix, and it's all over."

"Maybe they'd be better off as part of The Whole. We have seen so much in their minds. Their souls. So much hatred, violence, bigotry, nationalism, religious conflict. Mutual Assured Destruction. What we offer is a superior existence We are united. I say 'we', but we are a _single_ entity. Many, many bodies, one mind. One organism so vast that it encompasses hundreds of worlds and billions of individual forms. All united. All are one within The Whole."

"They don't want that. Humans fiercely value their individuality, being absorbed into a gestalt like The Whole is their worst nightmare. Your Paradise is their Hell. I know you can see that, having absorbed so many of their minds."

The creature acceded defeat, for it knew the Hastur-Spawn's word to be true. This world would never accept The Whole, they would rather die. 'Childs' smiled broadly, "Well, let's go, before we become frozen for another one hundred thousand years."

Five minutes later.

_Fujin-Maru_

Tek set the larger man on a bed as Dr. Fujita rushed to his side, _This one's so drunk he may not need memory manipulation_. Tek thought. Oh well, Psychic Surgery was Torren-Wraeth's specialty anyway. Just so long as MacReady didn't wake up and start killing everyone in sight, thinking that they were aliens. "Do you have any flamethrowers or explosives aboard?"

"That's not exactly my department. But I'm sure we do."

"Don't let this man anywhere near them."

The Crashed Starship

Tek lifted the massive craft from the ice with a thought. It was beautiful, a shining disk-like craft of unfamiliar design, partially damaged from the crash and the battle between the creature and the sole survivor of Thule base. Yoshida technologies could undoubtedly make good use of it. First, of course, he would have to scour the entire vessel to ensure that no portion of the creature made it to Japan.

The wind was already beginning to howl, and the temperature was plummeting. He turned his head slightly to see a towering, shadowy figure, roughly man-shaped, with eyes like twinkling stars set in an indigo sky. Ithaqua had already arrived. And judging by the waves of ineffable cold he was radiating, everything within his vicinity was soon to be frozen solid. Tek sent the ship to a pocket dimension and teleported away before things got too cold even for him.

_Fujin-Maru_.

Torren-Wraeth was already there, leaning over MacReady's prone form, erasing and fabricating the man's memories to make them fit with Nauls' previously implanted 'experiences'. It was delicate work, to alter the human mind. He noted that Torren-Wraeth was dressed in Nauls' survival gear, which appeared to be almost frozen solid, every movement sent snow and ice crackling to the floor.

"I recovered the ship. I have it stored away until I can make sure there's nothing dangerous left aboard," Tek crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, "How is Goro going to explain that his vessel's helicopter just happened to be passing by when two research stations went 'kablooie'?"

"Just that." Torren-Wraeth said tonelessly, "They have authorization to be here. Studying the permafrost, searching for fossils. They were conducting a recon flight to find a good spot to set up a station of their own. They saw the smoke, and decided to investigate. I don't think anyone but the most paranoid militarists in America or Norway would think Japan would outright attack them, especially after what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They have everything to lose and nothing to gain."

"There are still a lot of people left who saw Pearl Harbor, a lot of people who survived Pearl Harbor." Tek pointed out, "People who suffered and can't forgive. They might think old Hirohito is making another idiotic power play."

"The Japanese government is not involved in Yoshida technologies beyond absurdly high taxes, and Goro-Kun has no love for either the _former_ Empire or its Emperor." Torren-Wraeth said irritably. Imperial Japan was something the son of Cthulhu didn't like to talk about, as its brutal war crimes were part of the reason Goro had decided to give up his immortality and leave Torren-Wraeth's side. Tek turned and left him to his work.

He walked over to the nearby bed and idly glanced into Nauls' mind. He was dreaming about Panama City Beach and college girls in bikinis. Tek smiled and made a mental note to visit Florida.

"There, it's done." Torren-Wraeth began removing the cold weather gear, "I _hate_ Antarctica. Our work is done here, and we can't be here when our friends wake up, so I say we go somewhere warm and sunny."

"How about Panama City Beach?"

"You go ahead. I have to stop by Goro-Chan's house first, let him know what's going on."

To be continued . . .

Notes:

I still say Nauls survived! No body, no proof!

How I arrived at nineteen killed by the Thing:

Fuchs, Matias, Lars, Colin, Peder and Clark were not directly killed by The Thing. Fuchs and Colin committed suicide. Peder, Lars and Clark were killed by other humans and Matias died in a helicopter explosion.

1. Henrik, 2. Griggs, 3. Juliette, 4. Olav, 5. Karl, 6. Edvard, 7. Derek, 8. Jonas, 9. Adam, 10. Sanders, 11. Sam, 12. Norris, 13. Palmer, 14. Bennings, 15. Blair, 16. Copper, 17. Windows, 18. Childs, 19. Garry

For the record, in an _Alien_ situation, I'd be Lambert too. People are too hard on her. I don't doubt that everyone who calls her a coward would probably lose control of their own bowels at the mere sight of a Xenomorph, much less after watching it slaughter their friends one by one. If they were very, _very_ safely contained, I _might_ be more like Dr. Gediman from _Alien: Resurrection_, too enamored of the things to recognize the danger until it was too late. Either way, I'd die horribly.

Torren-Wraeth is the half-human son of Cthulhu and my character.

Tektaktequataquarl is the son of Hastur and my character.

Yoshida Goro is Torren-Wraeth's closest friend and my character.


	2. Chapter 2

Cold

Chapter 2

The _Fujin-Maru_

"I can't believe it," Nauls repeated into his coffee, "I just can't believe it. Doc, Childs, Norris . . ."

"if there's one thing I learned in Nam', kid, it's life ain't fair." MacReady replied.

The Fujin-Maru was headed toward the nearest U.S. settlement, and for the life of him, MacReady couldn't remember where that would happen to be. As far as he knew, only Chile and Easter Island were 'near' their location, and Easter Island didn't have any U.S. presence, not that he knew of. They couldn't fly them out because the Antarctic equivalent of a hurricane was swirling around them.

The crew was friendly, most of them spoke English and MacReady had picked up some Japanese while stationed in Okinawa. The grub was good, and they actually had a good selection of Western food. But there was something about them. How they'd whisper certain things to each other or stop talking as the Americans came by. Several members of the crew had an odd, almost fish-like appearance, and the Quartermaster was a ghoul. That was what they'd called them in Nam', anyway. Those weird, dog-faced people he'd seen carrying off the dead of both sides. They hadn't been Vietcong, but they hadn't been on the South's side, either. They were just a really ugly tribe of scavengers. Some of the South Vietnamese he'd met claimed the 'dog-people' ate the bodies of the dead.

He didn't doubt it for a second.

He wondered what Nauls thought about the less-than human looking members of the crew.

"I had this weird thing, like a dream," Nauls said softly, "A face. A kid with green skin and golden eyes and little tentacle-things on his jaw."

MacReady shuddered slightly, despite himself. He'd seen that particular face as well, but he figured it was better not to talk about it. Nauls was already shook up enough without having to deal with that. "Green kids and pink elephants." He said, "You didn't happen to get into Palmer's weed before it all hit the fan, did you?"

"I'm beginnin' to wonder myself, man." He replied distantly. "You notice how the crew's actin', how some of 'em look. I know they's a lot of weird lookin' people in the world, but I ain't never seen people who look like fish."

"Well, you have now."

"I'm not bein' prejudiced or nothin', it's just, some a' these people look weird. That guy that looks like a dog . . ."

"He's probably thinking you look tasty." MacReady grinned, "Did you see his teeth? Son-of-a-gun has jaws like a doberman."

Nauls wanted to reply that he probably thought that MacReady looked like a cute little werewolf bitch, but he decided that he didn't want to die.

"I wonder what a tech company was doing sending a ship to Antarctica." MacReady thought aloud, "Who would blow all the money on this barge, the helicopters and the crew just to find a few fossils. And what does a _tech_ company want with fossils, anyway?"

"Why did the government spend all that money to send _us_ to Antarctica? Rich people don't make no kinda sense. Besides, this Yoshida guy is like Tesla, he's probably found a way to turn glaciers into electricity. You know what? I don't _wanna_ know what they were after." He sighed, "Man, if I never see snow again, it will be to soon. From now on, sunshine and beaches."

"And loose, beautiful women who dig guys with beards."

"You jus' wear that to hide your ugly face." The clean-shaven man replied, "I don't need to hide behind a face-fro."

"Face-fro?" MacReady tried to compose himself, but it was too much, he started cackling like a hyena. Soon both men were practically falling down laughing.

Yoshida Goro's estate, Yokohama, Japan

Yoshida Goro sat on a tatami mat mulling over his cup of tea. For a man of over three hundred years, he was remarkably young and vibrant, having a body of roughly twenty augmented by the eldritch energies of The Great Old Ones. "So, you see, I was looking for one of those black basalt cities the Polyps built millions of years ago. I had no idea that there was a spaceship there. And certainly not one with such a dangerous occupant."

"Neither did I," Torren-Wraeth admitted, "I try to avoid the poles, you know. I don't like the cold."

Goro laughed, "I've known you for what now, three hundred years?"

"You understand why I'm being so cautious."

"How will the two survivors explain the differences between their story and the one told by the young lady from the Norwegian incident to themselves? They will surely suspect something is off when they hear of the destruction of Thule station."

"That's where the beautiful part of National Security comes in. The U.S. and Norwegian governments will never allow word of an alien, and such a dangerous alien at that, to reach anybody outside the top brass. Our friends remember that they weren't in the base at the time of the 'accident' and have no idea what happened. Once the government figures that out, they'll shut them out of the loop. Tell them exactly what they'll tell the public . . . Although, I hope they can find a good cover story for two international research facilities being blown apart _and_ flash-frozen within the space of two days."

"I hope they can come up with something better than 'swamp gas' and 'weather balloons'." Goro smiled broadly, "A weather balloon, ignited by swamp gas, caused an explosion which destroyed both bases and resulted in an avalanche that buried all the evidence under tons of ice."

Torren-Wraeth laughed, "The sad thing is, I can see them trying to make that stick!"

"What exactly were they doing off base?"

"One of the helicopters was damaged, MacReady was trying to repair it, Nauls was bringing him dinner, and the whole place went up. They were the only ones not in the dining room at the time. The helicopters were damaged by the blast, and after a few hours of worry they managed to wave down your helicopter, which had been drawn to the smoke. It's not a common sight in Antarctica, smoke clouds"

"How did you find out about this creature?"

"I was visiting my people, and felt the psionic power of the creature. Like smoke, life is not a common sight in Antarctica, when it appears, it's noticed."

Torren-Wraeth's people, his mother's people, were the Rapa Nui, the original inhabitants of the land most of the world new as Easter Island, but which he still called Rapa Nui. The island also happened to be one of the last places near Antarctica where people could actually live. It had been called 'the most isolated island on earth', and it was a fair description.

"What about the woman? They'll think she's insane, and they certainly won't let her tell her story to the public."

"There was nothing I could do, she'd already told the whole story to the Russians, and they'd had a working radio." Torren-Wraeth sighed, "I wish we had gotten there sooner, before they woke that creature up . . ."

"You can't be everywhere, know anything, Torren-Chan." No one outside Goro or Torren-Wraeth's mother could refer to him by only a portion of his name and get away with it. "And you can't solve all of the problems on earth, save everyone. I know what it's like, to want to help every person who is suffering, but it's just not possible, not even for The Great Old Ones."

"I know, but it still hurts"

"And that's what makes you, you. You're a good person, you care about people. That's what I like about you."

"I learned from the best, Goro-Kun."

"Just how dangerous was this creature?"

"One of the Americans, a man named Blair, a biologist, estimated that the creature would assimilate all life on earth within three years if it escaped Antarctica. I believe that it would have been closer to three months, if my father and his kin allowed it to run its course, which is doubtful." He frowned, "When I arrived the creature was part Blair, part dog, part God-knows-what. He was the one that was attacking Nauls when I arrived . . ."

"At least you saved this Nauls kid." He took a sip of his tea, "Maybe I can pull some strings and get him a good job. Not working with aliens, mind you. You say he's a cook?"

"Yes."

"And MacReady?"

"Helicopter Pilot. U.S. Air Force. He served with distinction in Vietnam. I don't think he'd be interested, though." He shook his head, "MacReady doesn't work well with others. He went through a lot in Vietnam, and a lot of people back in the U.S. treated him like scum when he came home. I hated the war too, I hate all wars, but it's the politicians who're responsible, not the soldiers. You can't treat people like that, especially when they've already suffered so much . . . He's sick of people, that's why he went to Antarctica, to get away from everybody."

"Maybe we can help?"

"I hope so."

An unspecified location, one week later

"The Russians reported seeing an entity resembling Ithaqua before the storm hit. Considering the fact that a mile of ice appeared over the span of three days directly above both Thule and Outpost 31, I have no reason to doubt this."

"Curioser and Curioser . . ." The Agent steepled his hands. He smiled thinly, "First Miss Lloyd arrives at the Russian Antarctic base with the story of a shape-shifting alien entity that slaughtered everyone at Thule Station, then the American base goes dark and two of its staff are brought to a Yoshida Technologies' research vessel by Torren-Wraeth and Tektaktequataquarl, then both bases are buried by Ithaqua. It appears that this time the Great Old Ones are doing the cover-up for us."

A subordinate stood by, holding a thick file. "But why alter MacReady and Nauls' minds? Especially when he most likely knew that Miss Lloyd had already reached the Russians and told her story?"

"Our files on Torren-Wraeth indicate a deep sense of concern for humanity. Most likely he was protecting their sanity."

"And he'll likely never tell us what really transpired at Outpost 31. He told the crew of the _Fujin-Maru_, people who already know about alien life, that it was a freak accident. He may have told Mr. Yoshida the truth, but we know what happens when someone tries to strong-arm Yoshida Goro."

"It pays to have such powerful sponsors." He sighed, "I wonder when the general public will notice that the founder of Yoshida Technologies has not aged appreciably since 1953 . . ." The Agent shook his head, "None of our agents in YT have any information beyond what we've already discussed?"

"There's a rumor that The Special Research Division has got its hands on a new craft, but we haven't been able to get any details."

"I highly doubt that it is a coincidence. Most likely one of our little godlings acquired the vessel the Norwegians discovered before Ithaqua flash-froze whatever was left of the entity."

"Perhaps it was for the best that they dealt with the entity themselves. I don't think we could have learned how to control the thing before it either forced us to destroy it . . . or it destroyed _us_."

"Nevertheless, is is infuriating that Yoshida Technologies gets the prize. _Again_. That ship could place Japan at the top of the space race. Not to mention the possibilities in the fields of metallurgy, chemistry, physics . . . _Weaponry_. Yoshida refuses to develop weapons. Our sources say he actually destroys them!" The Agent hissed in frustration, "The only thing worse than a pacifist is a pacifist with clout."

"Excuse me, Sir, but what about Miss Lloyd?"

"I think she's intelligent enough not to unduly panic the world with this information. Once she realizes what's at stake, she'll do her patriotic duty and keep quiet. If not . . . There are plenty of sanitariums available."

"And what's our cover story?"

"A freak storm knocked out power to Thule Station and caused an explosion at Outpost 31, due to an overloaded generator. The Norwegians froze to death, the Americans burned. Miss Lloyd went to get help, but was too late. MacReady and Nauls were just plain lucky."

"I think a 'viral outbreak' would make a better cover story. Something highly contagious like Ebola or plague, something to explain why we couldn't recover the bodies of the Norwegians. We can say the Americans were cremated in the blast, but the Norwegians . . ."

"Unfortunately," The Agent said, pulling out a cigarette, "It was Torren-Wraeth who created the 'explosion' cover story by altering the Outpost 31 survivor's minds to believe that's what happened." He lit the cigarette, "As for the bodies . . . Our Norwegian counterparts will tell the grieving families something. Hell, maybe they'll say Thule base exploded. Since no one can reach it now, no one will ever know otherwise."

The Agent's phone rang. He listened for a few moments, then hung up.

"They tried clearing the ice, thermite bombs, heavy-duty industrial drills, nothing can make a scratch." He blew out a puff of smoke, and his subordinate coughed, "Damned supernatural ice. What else could one expect from Ithaqua." It was more a statement than a question.

"Perhaps it's better that way." The subordinated repeated.

Panama City Beach, Florida

Tek strolled along the white sand and looked out over the shimmering water. It was far easier for him to assume human form than Torren-Wraeth. Unfortunately it was winter in Florida as well as Antarctica, so few pretty girls were to be found on the beaches. Still, it was warmer here than most other parts of the world, especially Antarctica. Mid-60's vs -60 below. Unlike Torren-Wraeth, Tek was not bothered by cold, though he preferred temperatures where humans were comfortable. He was a social creature.

He shrugged, he'd have to come back in the summer.

"I don't see many pretty girls, or anyone else, for that matter." Torren-Wraeth stood arms akimbo behind him, smiling. He had assumed human form, of course. Gone were the green skin, golden eyes, tendrils and wings. He was simply a handsome youth of obvious Pacific Islander descent.

"Don't rub it in."

"At least it's warmer."

Tek smiled, "You think _this_ is cold? I think you'd be happy in Hell."

"I don't believe in Hell." Torren-Wraeth laughed. "And if I did, it would be cold."

"I wonder how long the humans will poke around that glacier before giving up. I still need to get the rest of the pieces of that creature home."

"How do I know," Torren-Wraeth smiled mischievously, "That you are _really_ you?"

Tek laughed, "That's ridiculous, if I wasn't me I wouldn't be me. Are you you?"

"I'm thinking of getting a mohawk."

"IMPOSTER!" Tek pointed and made the screaming sound from _Invasion of The Body Snatchers_.

"Join us. . ." Torren-Wraeth said in a dull monotone. He laughed, put his hands behind his head and began humming _Nights in White Satin_.

Another World

The Whole considered the situation at hand. The earth was a planet blessed with an abundance of bio-matter which could add greatly to The Whole's power. True, humans were weak, hateful, ignorant and technologically primitive, but they had potential for great creativity.

Unfortunately, it appeared earth had already been claimed. The presence of Hastur-Spawn and what appeared to be some sort of hybrid indicated a strong presence of Great Old Ones, perhaps even Outer Gods. The Whole had tried, once, to assimilate a world with a resident Great Old One. The suffering it had inflicted upon the entirety of The Whole would never be forgotten. The Whole desired to spread, but The Whole desired to survive. It could not risk earning the wrath of such powerful entities.

It simply was not worth the trouble.

The End . . .

Notes:

It's been a long time since I saw _The Thing_, but I have a feeling MacReady and Nauls wouldn't be very close. So they're probably pretty out of character.

The Quartermaster is an actual Lovecraft Ghoul.

The fishy crewmen are Deep Ones.

The Agency has people planted throughout Yoshida Technologies and is well aware of Torren-Wraeth, Tek and most of the others.

My father was stationed in Okinawa during the Vietnam war, Air Force Military Police, and he was present during the evacuation of Saigon. He saw terrible things, firsthand, things that still haunt him, and he was only there during the evacuation. I can't imagine what those men went through who served there for years. I just want to make clear that I am NOT judging or insulting Vietnam vets. A few did terrible things, but most were just trying to survive and do what they thought was right.


End file.
